Move to stop Catholic teachers striking

The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria has taken legal action to try to deter teachers and school support staff from participating in Thursday's strike.

Executive director Stephen Elder said it had successfully sought a ruling from Fair Work Australia which deemed the action unprotected and therefore unlawful.

However he said the commission would not pursue individual teachers through the courts or seek to fine them.

"The Independent Education Union and its agents must cease from organising disruptive action in Catholic schools," Mr Elder said.

"We have sought this ruling from the independent umpire and will now leave it up to individual teachers to follow their conscience."

Mr Elder said in the past the majority of Catholic school teachers had respected the umpire's decision and he hoped they would do so again.

Forty-one Catholic schools were closed last September when Catholic teachers joined their state school counterparts in a march to Parliament House.

Catholic staff have vowed to again join the protest because their wages are directly linked to those in the state system, so they are directly impacted by any deal negotiated between the Australian Education Union and the state government.

In a bulletin to members, Independent Education Union Victoria general secretary Debra James said the commission was once again trying to silence staff in Catholic schools.

"As you know, the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria refused to negotiate the type of agreement which would have allowed members to take protected industrial action," she said.

"Australian Education Union members, on the other hand, with only one employer, are able to take protected action."

The action in Fair Work Australia came after the Federal Court last week rejected the state government's attempt to stop state teachers striking and taking other industrial action.

Justice Christopher Jessup criticised the government for waiting so long before applying for the injunction and said the government had failed to convince him the planned action was unlawful.

However a spokeswoman for the Minister for the Teaching Profession, Peter Hall, said the government hoped the strike would not go ahead on Thursday.

"The government has made it clear we believe the industrial action is not in the best interest of Victorian school children or their parents," she said.

The Australian Education Union will meet with the government on Tuesday afternoon as part of ongoing negotiations.

However Ms James told Catholic teachers and support staff that given the intransigence of the Baillieu government so far, it seemed very unlikely there would be a resolution reached.

"If a significant breakthrough can't be arrived at in tomorrow's negotiations, I hope to see you and thousands of others at the Treasury Gardens on Thursday at 11.15am," she wrote.

The Australian Education Union is seeking a 12 per cent pay rise over three years - a significant shift from the 30 per cent originally sought.

However the Victorian government is refusing to budge from its offer of 2.5 per cent a year plus performance-based pay, something opposed by the union as divisive and punitive."